Moyo-Akili
Summary: The Titans, minus Beast Boy, wake up in a strange place with no memory of having arrived there. Realizing Beast Boy is not with them, they search for him, only to come across several different versions of their small friend. They found themselves in Beast Boy's mind, called Moyo-Akili.
Rating: K+, just in case.
Disclaimer: I don't own the Titans. Yet.
Chapter 1
Robin groaned quietly, furrowing his brows. Why did his head hurt? He was fighting someone, and then there was a bright flash of-He sat up, suddenly alert. His senses worked overtime to take in all the information he could gather, running calculations in his intelligent mind.
Bright blue sky and thick green trees (they were supposed to be in a warehouse), soft fertile ground underneath him. The smell of nature reached his nostrils, and a hint of rainfall that had perhaps already fallen or was heading towards him. Robin looked around him and spotted the rest of his team lying unconscious.
He moved to Starfire, who was closest to him and shook her awake, all the while keeping an eye and ear out for danger. Starfire sat up with a woozy moan, touching her hand to her head. "Robin?" she asked. He nodded curtly, then moved on to Raven and Cyborg, who seemed a little better off when they woke.
"Yo, man," Cyborg blinked warily. "Where are we?"
"Looks like a jungle," Robin replied, deciding that they were safe for the time being.
"Jungle?" Starfire repeated, looking around. "But were we not in the warehouse a moment before, battling the..." she trailed off, furrowing her brow in thought. "Please, friends, who were we fighting?"
Raven and Cyborg opened their mouths to answer, but then looked perturbed when they realized that they couldn't remember, either.
"Where's Beast Boy?" Robin asked suddenly, looking around sharply.
The others looked around as well, but didn't see him.
"Hey, Beast Boy!" Cyborg called out, cupping his metal hands around his mouth. "Don't be playing games, man."
There was no reply, no appearance of their young friend.
"Titans," Robin said, "fan out."
They each walked in a different direction, calling for Beast Boy. If they were there, Beast Boy must be as well. He wasn't far from them when they had been fighting...the villain, so it stood to reason that he had to be nearby.
"Beast Boy!" Cyborg yelled. "Man, you alwa-whoa!" He barely managed to dodge the huge claws that swung for him, rolling out of the way and then jumping to his feet at the ready. "Huh?" he uttered, raising his eyebrow when he saw his attacker. "Oh, that's not good."
The other three turned in surprise when they heard Cyborg's yell. His mechanical body slammed into the ground and then slid a few feet before he came to a rest, dazed.
"Cyborg!" Robin said, running to him and drawing his weapon to fend off the opponent. Starfire and Raven joined him, energies summoned and ready.
With a ferocious growl, a giant green creature burst out of the trees, which snapped under his strength.
"Beast Boy?" Starfire gasped.
"I don't know what happened," Cyborg said, standing. "But something made him transform."
Robin narrowed his eyes, biting back a sigh. "Titans, don't hurt him. Try to calm him down. But don't let him get you!"
They all jumped out of the way as the Beast attacked, and his mighty fists split the ground where his friends had just been standing.
"Beast Boy," cried Starfire, "it is us, your friends!"
The Beast turned on her and made a grab for her, but she merely ascended higher into the air out of his reach. He roared in frustration and gave his attention to the ones on the ground, namely Robin.
"Beast Boy," he said, backing away as the Beast approached, "I know you're in there. Just-" He didn't have a chance to finish before the Beast lunged at him, teeth bared.
"Yo, BB!"
The Beast turned to Cyborg, who had his arm cannon pointed at him.
"Listen, man," he said, "I don't want to have to do this."
His only response was a deep growl and an attack.
"Cyborg!" Starfire cried.
The half-robotic teen braced himself to hurt his friend-but the need never came. The Beast gave an unnaturally high yelp of pain and was knocked to the side, clawed hand scrabbling at its neck. An arrow protruded from it, and the Beast howled in pain. The Titans could only gape as the creature fell hard, twitching.
"Beast Boy!" they cried.
Before they could move, another figure appeared, shiny metal flashing in his hand. Blood spilled from the Beast's throat as the figure slashed it open, and they could do nothing. Because when the figure stood from wiping his knife on the grass, they saw it was Beast Boy.
"What?" Cyborg uttered.
Beast Boy gave the teens a cynical expression. At his feet the Beast slowly became intangible, then disappeared altogether. Then the Titans realized that there was something off about their friend. For one thing, he wasn't dressed like Beast Boy. He wore a red headband that held back his considerably longer green hair, and white and red war paint covered his face. His chest was bare, and he wore a bow and a quiver of arrows across his back. At his belted waist was a small knife sheath, and a pair of khaki shorts covered his thighs.
"Uh, okay," Cyborg said. Raven and Starfire both looked thoroughly confused.
Robin spoke, "Who are you?"
The strange Beast Boy cocked his head, narrowing his eyes slightly. "Who am I? If you must ask, you are simple, Robin. I am Beast Boy."
The leader scowled. "Just from the way you're speaking," he said, "with that accent, and those words. You're not Beast Boy."
He blinked, almost thoughtfully. "Then I am a part of Beast Boy. I am known as Ushujaa. A direct translation would be bravery, if you will. So I suppose just call me Bravery."
This time Raven blinked. "Please don't tell me we're in Beast Boy's mindscape," she said.
Bravery smirked. "We are, dear Raven."
"Whoa, hold on," Cyborg held up a hand and looked at Raven. "You mean we're in B's Nevermore?"
"What is going on?" Starfire asked.
Robin folded his arms as though punctuating the alien princess's question.
"Not Nevermore," Bravery said. "Moyo-Akili. Welcome."
"Okay," Robin said. "Suppose this is inside Beast Boy's head. Why are we in a jungle? Why do you speak differently than Beast Boy, with that African accent? And where are the rest of you? You're supposed to be emotions, or characteristics, I presume?"
"Slow down there, hotshot," Bravery said. "I'm not the best at explaining, but I know someone who is. If you'd like to follow me."
Still scowling, Robin nodded curtly, but shot the rest of the team a look that meant be cautious. For all they knew, it could be some kind of villain's trap.
They followed Bravery through the jungle, passing trees that seemed to stretch up forever. Animals called to one another, chattering and howling, though the Titans never spotted any. Raven began to wonder whether there really were animals, and not just the sounds one would expect to hear in such a place. The jungle seemed to be never ending, and though they had been walking for quite a while, none of them felt tired.
Then Bravery stopped. "This is the gate," he said over his shoulder before continuing on.
Before any of them could ask what he meant, the air around the boy rippled and he disappeared. They immediately moved forward for fear of losing him, and suddenly found themselves in a wide prairie. The blue sky was clearly visible, with a bright white orb shining down on them. The tall yellow grass swayed with the cool breeze. Bravery stood waiting for them.
"Uh, where are we?" Cyborg asked, looking around. The jungle had completely disappeared.
"The safari," Bravery replied, as though it were obvious. Then he pointed into the distance, where a lone building stood. "That hut belongs to Udadisi. He spends most of his time there studying, and thinking, probably. We're not particularly close."
"Udadisi?" Raven prompted.
Bravery glanced at her, then started walking. "You would call him Curiosity, or Intelligence."
"I didn't know Beast Boy had any of that," Raven remarked.
Cyborg snickered while Robin shook his head. Bravery stopped in his tracks and turned back with the same cynical expression as before. "You don't know anything about Beast Boy."
The Titans sobered up instantly, and Bravery turned and kept walking. They followed silently. It didn't take long to reach the hut, and when they neared they could see that though it was small, it was well-built and kept. It was made of wood and mud, with a thatched leaf roof. The door was a simple cloth hanging from the wall.
Bravery stepped up and called inside, and received a faint reply. He swept the curtain aside and motioned for them to enter. Inside it was dim, but a bright row of candles flickered along one side of the wall. Stacks of papers and books were scattered across the room, even covering a straw mattress on the floor. Notes were scrawled on the pages, and sketches of various animals and a few plants. The writing was in several different languages, but English scarcely appeared.
"Udadisi," Bravery sang.
The Beast Boy on the other side of the room looked up from his book, removing a pair of wire-rimmed reading glasses. "Ushujaa," he greeted. Then he saw the others and stood up, a curious gleam in his eyes. "What are they doing here? How did they get here? What do they want? Are they real or just projections of themselves? Why did you bring them here? Is everything okay out there?"
The Titans blinked at him, and Bravery held up a hand. "The only answer I have for you is what I have told them. You are the one who will most likely be able to find the answers all of you seek."
"Ah, I see," the other nodded, putting his finger to his chin.
Raven stepped forward. "You're supposed to be Intelligence?" she asked skeptically.
"Well," he replied, waving his hand vaguely, "I suppose I'd be more classified as Curiosity, but I represent Intelligence in part. Busara would probably be more intelligent, you could say." He stepped toward them, and the Titans saw that he was dressed in a yellow African garb with orange and blue patterns.
"Okay," Robin held up his hand and sighed heavily. "Can you just answer our questions?"
"I can certainly try," Curiosity grinned. "I know lots of things."
"How is it possible that we're...here?" Robin frowned.
Curiosity stuck his lower lip out thoughtfully as Bravery wandered toward the bed, pushing a pile of books off so he had room to sit. "Well, here in Moyo-Akili-"
"What is that, exactly?" Cyborg interrupted.
"Moyo-Akili?" Curiosity blinked at him. "Hm. That's a good question. It's kiSwahili, our first language. It doesn't really have a direct translation, but I suppose the closest meaning is Heart Mind, or something like that. This is, I guess you could say, a happy place?"
"Swahili?" Starfire repeated. "Please, but I thought friend Beast Boy spoke the English?"
"Yes," Curiosity replied, "but it's not our first language. Like you. Your mother tongue is Tamaranean, and English came afterwards. Ours is kiSwahili, and then Brazilian Portuguese, and then English."
"What?" the Titans gaped.
"Anyway," Curiosity continued, paying them no mind, "I suppose it's possible for outsiders to come here if they had some kind of means. There is not a portal or a mirror, as Raven has, though I think there could be some form of magic or another that would allow this sort of occurrence."
"So, magic?" Robin said, storing away Beast Boy's language barrier for later. When he received a nod, he asked, "Well, how do we get out?"
"Another good question. I suppose this is more Busara's area of expertise. We should go and ask him." Curiosity looked over at Bravery, who had taken to sharpening his arrow. "Ushujaa, twendeni kwake."
Bravery stood and replaced the arrow in his quiver.
"Let's go see Busara," Curiosity smiled.
A/N: Yay, new Teen Titan fic! :D
I hope you guys enjoy this story. It doesn't have anything to do with my other story, so yeah. Any predictions or wants for the way the story pans out? Suggestions, comments, questions are all welcome. :)
Thanks for reading, and I'll try to update soon!